Absolutely Center Element within Parent with CSS Transform

Sometimes it is necessary to absolutely (horizontally and vertivally) position an element within its parent, regardless of the width or height of either.
Pre-requisite is: the Parent must have position: relative;

Use the following to achieve this:

CSS

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/* element to be centered */

.element {

position:absolute;

top:50%;

left:50%;

transform:translate(-50%,-50%);

}

What is happening here?

Basically the CSS left and top properties are based on the size of the parent element. The transform property is based on the size of the target element.
Hopefully this is helpful.